Janitorial services need to be provided in virtually all public facilities, particularly where there are public restroom facilities. Cleanliness and sanitation are important for the health and comfort of patrons. Accordingly, it is well known to provide regular, scheduled cleaning of such public facilities. The task of scheduling can be relatively straightforward or exceedingly complex, depending on the size of the facilities, the number of patrons who use the facilities, and the frequency with which the facilities are used. Thus, the proverbial small bistro with a single restrooms may only need one or two cleanings a day, whereas a major international airport will have dozens of restrooms with multiple toilets and sinks that may need require scheduled cleanings several times a day, and over fairly regular intervals over any given twenty-four hour period. A further complication with large facilities is the management of the several hundred cleaning staff that are responsible for all of the scheduled cleanings. Still further complexity is added when those cleaning staff are not directly employed by the facility, but are employed by a cleaning services company that is contracted to provide such services to the facility.
The diarizing of the performance of janitorial services is also an important aspect of the provision of such services. While a cleaning schedule may be established and various cleaning staff assigned, such a schedule will be meaningless if it is not actually performed, and it is therefore also known to diarize the actual performance of cleaning services. Again, where such services are performed by a cleaning services company under contract, then the facility will typically require a diary or record proving that the services are actually being performed. Furthermore, by prominently posting such records as the services are being performed, patrons can be assured that the facility they are using is receiving regular attention. Additionally, such diaries may be relevant in any lawsuit involving allegations that a facility's lack of cleanliness lead to personal injury—e.g. a slip and fall on a puddle of water. A diary that demonstrate regular cleaning services were being provided may mitigate damages or serve as a defense to a negligence claim against the facility and the cleaning services company.
Typically, the diarizing is done using pen and paper. It is very common to provide an sheet of paper, perhaps removably mounted behind a plexiglass frame, which in itself is mounted to the wall. The sheet of paper is updated by a cleaner once a particular facility or area of that facility has been cleaned. The cleaner will typically remove the sheet, and write in the time, date when the facility was cleaned. There is often space of the cleaner to initial or sign the sheet beside the time and date entry, and may also include room for other information.
This manual system presents a number of disadvantages. First, the cleaner must take additional time out of their cleaning schedule to complete the form. Further, there is typically no convenient surface in the facility to complete the form, which may therefore force the cleaner to carry a clipboard with him or her, thereby further burdening the cleaner with extra equipment. Additionally, once the sheet is completely filled, the cleaner may have to carry their own blank sheets. Still a further disadvantage is the need for someone to collect the sheets on a periodic basis and, if reports are to be provided, the data on each sheet needs to be tabulated and entered into a computer, leading to extra labour and a delay between the time the service was performed and the availability of a report to the facility verifying that such services were performed. An additional disadvantage is that the cleaner's handwriting may not be legible, or the spaces provided on the sheet to small, so patrons do not get the benefit of seeing when the facility was last cleaned in a convenient manner. Furthermore, it is often the case that cleaning staff's may represent a diverse range of cultural backgrounds and first languages, making the explanation of how the sheets are to be completed a difficult task. Still further disadvantages to the current diarizing system will occur to those of skill in the art.